This application relates generally to stored-value instruments. More specifically, this application relates to methods and systems for processing stored-value instruments.
In recent years, stored-value cards have become increasingly popular among consumers. The steadily increasing demand for such cards, in the form of prepaid gift cards and other types of stored-value cards, has resulted in an increased number of merchants offering stored-value cards for sale. This success in marketing stored-value cards has, however, exposed an unexpected weakness with the way in which such cards are currently provided. In particular, each stored-value card is typically tied to use at a particular merchant and only for retail transactions. Thus, the convenience of the stored-value-card arrangement may be substantially mitigated by the need to keep many different cards associated with a variety of different merchants, particularly by those who use the cards most heavily. In addition, the limitation to retail transactions effectively excludes a variety of other types of transactions that consumers may wish to engage in.
There is, accordingly, a general need in the art for stored-value cards whose use is not restricted in these ways.